Thursday, July 21, 2011

Day 21... Before I jump in with tonight's shares, I wanted to find out if anybody had any favorite tracks so far? I know it's still a ways to the end, and I promised that I'd saved some real goodies for the end, but is there anything you've heard that really turned you on? I don't think I've found any truly great tracks this year, I'm afraid. Most years I find one song that really makes it all worth the trouble, and it's usually you guys that tell me which track that is. Well, usually it's Stubby that tells me which one it is, but other folks have opinions, too. Faves from previous years include The Mills Brothers with Count Basie, Eydie Gorme, Brook Benton, Sarah Vaughn & Billy Eckstine and others that I'm sure are escaping my memory. Anyhow, let me know what you think, unless you're downloading these and putting them aside in a file to save them for Christmas time. Where's the fun in that? It's July, time for Christmas music! OK, enough noise, let's jump in to a great selection of tracks for tonight.

1. Baby, It's Cold Outside by Marty Gold And His Orchestra, a rerun I pulled from one of those great Stereo Action LPs, Stereo Action Goes Hollywood (RCA Victor LSA-2381, Stereo, 1961). Well worth a re-visit.

2. Chree-See-Mus by The King Sisters And The Children from the collection of King family tracks, Love At Home (Capitol T2352, Mono, 1965). There's a bit of a story behind this track. I first found a version of the song on a single by Commander Shea School Boy's Choir. Great tune, great version. Then The King Of Jingaling over at FaLaLaLaLa digs up this version by The King Sisters from a 7" single and shared it. He later even sent me the single as a thank-you for turning him on to such a great song. Then when I saw the song on this collection in amongst the non-Christmas stuff, I knew I had to share it here again. This is the sort of thing that I dream about finding.

3. Flight Of The Bumblebee by Trio Raisner from Hi-Fi Harmonica (Decca DL 8342, Mono, 1958). I know, it has nothing at all to do with Christmas, but I thought this was just such a great LP that I wanted to grab something off of it and share.

4. Go Where I Send Thee by The Kingston Trio from the budget collection The Patriot Game (Pickwick SPC-3297, Stereo, 1972). I didn't dig deep enough into the Kinston Trio discography to find out where this song originally came from, but it doesn't matter. Great Christmas tune and I'm sharing it here.

5. Greensleeves by Liberace And Gordon Robinson from The Magic Pianos Of Liberace And Gordon Robinson (Coral CRL 57305, Stereo, 1960). I don't know if the dual piano treatment really adds anything to this song, but getting to share anything by Liberace is always a bonus.

6. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm by Machito And His Orchestra from Irving Berlin In Latin America (Forum Circle SF 9040, Stereo, 1966). A rerun, but again, well worth returning to. Isn't Machito an alias for someone else, someone who shouldn't have been releasing records like this? Nope, I must be thinking of someone else...

7. June In January by The Ray Charles Singers from their album Lovelier Than Ever (Metro (MGM) M-562, Mono, 1966). Both June and January are a little bit out of my time period of July and December, but I'm going to let it slide for the other Ray Charles.

9. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers from Miss Inez and her album Miss Inez Plays The Conn Organ (Tibia Tone 11657 (Dallas, TX), Mono). I think Miss Inez (Brown Teddlie) was a radio or TV personality in Texas when this was released. To the Google!

10. The Skater's Waltz by Edmundo Ros And His Orchestra from the LP Heading South...Of The Border (London Phase 4 SP 44153, Stereo, 1971). Someday I should put together a Christmas collection of all Phase 4 stuff. This one may be a rerun, I'm not sure.

11. Sleigh Ride, more accordion, this time from Mogens Ellegaard And His Orchestra and his album Accordion Time (Vox STVX 426.090, Stereo, 1959). Nice!

12. Snowflake Breakdown by Gerry Robichaud from 16 Great Fiddle Tunes By 16 Great Fiddlers (Banff RBS 1123, Mono). From accordions to fiddles, we gather it all here at Ernie (Not Bert)!

13. 'Twas The Night Before Christmas by Morgana King from Everybody Loves Saturday Night (Ascot AM 13020, Mono, 1965). This is the sort of thing I hunt for, a bona-fide Christmas song that few folks have ever heard. And done to the tune of On Top Of Spaghetti, no less!

14. Warm Winter by Sylvia De Sayles, Conducted By Peter Matz from the vinyl The Best Is Yet To Come (Regina R 296, Mono, 1964). Another great tune that really makes my search worthwhile.

15. Winter In New England by Joanie Sommers, Arranged And Conducted By Stan Applebaum from Sommers' Seasons (Warner Bros WS1504, Stereo, 1963). Third great tune in a row!

And that's it, 15 more tracks. I'm tired of typing. Here's the download link, see you tomorrow.

5 comments:

I find 'em in all the same places you do, I'm just less discriminatory. I'll buy anything for $1, and often do. Christmas songs turn up in the strangest places. Ripped three yesterday from an LP of great German melodies. I picked it up hoping for Stille Nacht, but instead got three other songs (thank goodness for the English translations on the sleeve, although I might have taken a chance on something titled Jesuskinde...).

Ernie, this year's crop seems to me the best yet with a consistently high level of solid stuff. Heck, even the High Schools seem more talented than usual. Having said that, I can't put my finger on any ONE track that blows me off my axis as the Mills Brothers and Brook Benton tracks did. (Of course, the month ain't over yet).

My faves, though, would include:

(Day 19) Lena Horne--"Sleighride In July" (if I were putting together this year's Best Of for you, that would be the title track)

(Day 6) Ian Whitcomb--"Reindeer-A Ragtime Two-Step" (such a wonderful little obscurity that, but for you, would be lost and forgotten forever)

(Day 16) Ted Schumate-Dan Reno Jazz Quintet--"Christmas Time Is Here" (they do it well and, outside of a few folks in Florida, its new to everybody)

But then there's MJQ and Coltrane, Jim Backus (Christmas or not, who cares--great shares), The Cuff Links, the bongo version of Greensleeves (awesome) from Los Admiradores (Day 5), and I'm definitely adding the Joanie Sommers album to my wishlist. Also kinda digging on the Meredith Wilson songs. Seriously, Ernie...Best.Year.Ever!